One of the voices of English folk, the revered Shirley Collins is a national treasure. Her direct and simple delivery, and her impeccable taste in material ensure that any release from her is a special one. Following on from her last album for Domino, Shirley's back now with Heart's Ease. Out now via the same label, this record touches the heart and educates the mind in equal measure.
From the pastoral "Rolling in the Dew" and on to the perennial "Barbara Allen", the selections here are superbly pitched and performed. A tune like "Barbara Allen" is ancient, having been performed on both sides of the Atlantic in various forms for centuries, but Shirley imbues this one with a quiet immediacy that makes it seem as if it was just written. Elsewhere, "Wondrous Love" journeys back from the Lomax iteration found in America to return again to its U.K. form. Collins makes this a stately number, one which has a sense of doom about it.
If so much of the power on Heart's Ease comes from the impeccable combination of the performances and the choice of material, the album closer, "Crowlink", stands a bit apart. This one, with the melody riding a sinister hook atop a hurdy-gurdy-figure, is haunting. It's evocative in a way that the other songs are not. And this is exactly the kind of thing that I would have loved to have heard more of. Still, at 85, Shirley Collins is miraculously still recording albums. For that we should be grateful, whatever the song choices turn out to be. Heart's Ease favors a simple and straightforward approach throughout, and there's little here that isn't striking and affecting. If the emotions are not stirred, the mind is intrigued, with the selections here alternating between those that move and those that remind a listener of the rich history that inspired the songs that became the standards of the folk music tradition in the U.K. and the United States.
Heart's Ease is out now via Domino.
More details on Shirley Collins via the official website, or the official Facebook page.
[Photo: Enda Bowe]